The following abbreviations are herewith defined, at least some of which are referred to within the following description of the prior art and the present invention.    BSS Base Station Subsystem    CRC Cyclic Redundancy Check    DL Downlink    EDGE Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution    EGPRS Enhanced General Packet Radio Service    GPRS General Packet Radio Service    GSM Global System for Mobile Communications    KBPS Kilo-Bits Per Second    MCS Modulation and Coding Scheme    MIMO Multiple Input Multiple Output    MS Mobile Station    MU Multi-User    PACCH Packet Associated Control Channel    PC Power Control    PDCH Packet Data Channel    PTCCH Packet Timing Advance Control Channel    RLC Radio Link Control    SU Single User    TBF Temporary Block Flow    TFI Temporary Flow Identity    TS Time Slot    TSC Training Sequence Code    UL Uplink    USF Uplink State Flag
In the wireless telecommunications field, the traditional communication MIMO system is generally referred to as a single-user MIMO system (SU-MIMO) and the use of the SU-MIMO technology has led to the emergence of a new communication system referred to as a multi-user MIMO system (MU-MIMO). In the case of SU-MIMO, the access point (base station) communicates with only one mobile station (the user) while both the access point and the mobile station are commonly equipped with multiple antennas. In the case of MU-MIMO, the access point is able to communicate with two or more mobile stations (the users). Although the MU-MIMO technology works relatively well there are still problems that need to be addressed. For instance, if MU-MIMO were to be deployed in a GSM/EDGE system then the current link adaptation and power control (PC) related functionalities performed by the access point to assign radio resources which are to be used by the mobile station for upcoming UL transmissions to the access point would not be sufficient to effectively operate in MU-MIMO mode. The present invention addresses this problem and other problems which are associated with the existing UL MU-MIMO technology.